


Stories of the Second Self: Cub Life

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [177]
Category: Urban Fantasy - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:14:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23758225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: Mark Lowell and his friend from high school, Miranda Imura attend a gender reveal party hosted by Mark's foster parents who are expecting a baby. Mark, his mom, dad, and most of the assembled guests were werewolves. However, a second Fae from the Bureau of Pentacastes Affairs dampens the mood when she asked to talk to Mark and his parents in private to discuss when the Lowells had been hiding about Mark even after the age of Alter Idem.
Series: Alter Idem [177]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: Cub Life

Mark Lowell stood in his foster parent's living room among half the people on the street. Next to him was Miranda, the only Fae in the room.

"Remember in high school you told me about how corny you thought school dances were?" Miranda said, amidst the general chatter.

"Yeap," Mark answered, glancing at Miranda and resumed looking for his parents' grand entrance for the announcement.

"Now we're doing a gender reveal party hosted by your mom and dad," Miranda pointed out, "I thought only white people did this stuff."

Mark had in fact been abducted as a baby after his real mother, who he still didn't know, had given him up for adoption. Mark had been a werewolf for as long as he could remember, just that he didn't know until into his adolescence. Knowing this about him, Mark's foster parents kidnapped him, because they were werewolves too. This was years before anything supernatural was publicly known.

"It's the wolf in us," Mark explained, also having never seen another black couple make a big announcement about an expecting newborn's gender. "Everyone loves babies. Black howlers, white howlers, Hispanic, Asian, doesn't matter. You can practically smell the progestin in the air."

There were humans in the gather also, but those present all called Norwood, known locally as The 'Wood their home town.

"Is that true," Miranda asked.

"What?" Mark suddenly looked at Miranda, and then added, "Well, yeah, kinda, but not quite that literally."

"Here they come," Mark heard someone say.

Mark never had siblings, or at least none he knew of, because his foster parents feared revealing themselves to be werewolves if they conceived a child. However, it was Year Four of Alter Idem and his parents only announced two months ago that Mark's mother was expecting.

"Hey everyone," Mark's mom called out and waved, "I wanna thank you all for your encouragement and congratulations when we announced that we're expecting...."

"I'm a howler," Mark whispered to Miranda, "and I still don't know why people say, 'we are expecting,' when only the mother is pregnant."

"Best a man can do to be in solidarity with his wife, I guess," Miranda whispered back.

Several people around Mark glanced at their conversation, since all the werewolves clearly heard the hushed exchanged. Mark could tell from their expressions, that they knew he and Miranda kept their voices down as more of a social courtesy.

"It's been a long journey," Mark's mother went on, " since our son pretty much let the whole world know what we really are."

This time when people turned to look at Mark it was in recognition of the good humor at his mom cracking on Mark's therianthropic transformation in the middle of a school shooting to stop the gunmen. The video of police walking him out of the school under guard of weapons aim was at first seen as some kind of bad publicity stunt or staged event.

Being black, Mark was just glad the cops hadn't blown him away at first sight. He was used to being profiled when seen as human, so the new prejudice against werewolves wasn't much of a surprise to him, and took only a little more adjustment.

"Even after the revelation, Dietrich and I weren't sure we wanted to bring a second kid into the world," Mark's mom said of herself and his dad. "Medically, I heard and read that it was safe, but I didn't believe the world would accept us. There are still struggles, but we're seeing new werewolves born into the world. Then I thought, wouldn't it be great if Mark was there to provide a little brother or sister such a great example on how to be the wolf."

That was something else, which Mark wanted to say to Miranda, but didn't. Despite his turning being a world-changing news story, no one outside the family knew that he'd been abducted. He let Miranda know some time after the post-shooting assembly that Norwood High held, because he trusted Miranda that much.

"Get over her, Mark," his dad bid, waving him up through the crowd.

His parents positioned Mark between the two of them, and they both put an arm around his shoulders from opposite sides.

"I can't express how proud I am of our son," Mark's dad beamed to those assembled, and his dad's eyes starting to moisten. "When the news broke about Norwood High Lela and I feared the worst. We each raced over from our jobs to the school. I got there later than Lela, and just then the cops walked Mark out of--."

His dad's voiced trailed off, as Mark noticed a new person in the room. He didn't know them, and from other people's reactions it looked like no one else did either. Like Miranda, the new woman was a Fae elder, that being visible from the nine-point antlers to Miranda's ten-pointed rack.

"Uh, hello," Mark's mother said, "We didn't see you come in."

"Yeah, that was the point," the Fae woman in a formal suit replied.

Mark watched as both his parents' faces drained. No one said anything, and really for the werewolves in the room, they didn't have to. Something was wrong for this woman to be here.

For the humans and Miranda, the woman had to speak up, "Can I have a word with the Lowell family here? In private, if I could."

"Uhh, sure," Mark's mom answered, and then gestured toward the back of the house.

Simply going to another room wouldn't keep other howlers from hearing even a quiet conversation. So, Mark's mom led the woman through the house to the back door and then outside with Mark and his dad also. In a werewolf home the wife and mother called the shots, and Mark kinda suspected this Fae knew that.

"I realize this was intrusive," the Fae woman said before offering a hand and introducing herself. "Teresa Sorenson, Bureau of Pentacastes Affairs."

"Lela Lowell," Mark's mother said, but didn't take the Fae's hand. "This is my husband, Dietrich and our son, Mark."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Teresa seemed to know that with werewolves it was just better if she got right to it. "We're aware that he's not your biological son."

"Oh my god." Mark's mother started trembling. "Dietrich."

"Look," Mark leaned forward a bit, wondering if the Fae noticed he was trying to hide an impulse to be confrontational. "As far as I'm concerned they are. Besides, shouldn't you have a warrant before laying stuff like this on people?"

Teresa hastily threw up her hands. "No, no. That's not why I'm here. Look, normally the FBI would've handled this, but they lost a lot of case files in the Alter Idem transition."

"And yet, you're here," Mark challenged, effectively being the pack beta on his parents' behalf. "So-- what? You're trying to get a confession?"

"It's," Teresa stopped, visibly trying to figure out how to better phrase her prior admission. "There won't be any arrests over this. Extenuating circumstances are such that both bureaus have decided to drop the matter and have placed a gag order against any other law enforcement agency over it."

"Then why come here and scare the shit out of us," Mark demanded, though his parents seemed a tad more relieved.

"There're some social dynamics that I've been tasked to study," Teresa answered and turned to Mark's parents, "Like how you knew, from afar no less, that Mark was a werewolf at the age of three?"

Mark's dad turned to his mom, before he answered, "It's... complicated. You wouldn't understand. Really none of y'all do if you're not one of us."

"I think if you helped, we could," Teresa offered, and then added, "It's been suggested that micro-expressions play a role, along with your heightened sense of smell. But Mark was a toddled who himself couldn't have known what he was then."

"We had to hide this about ourselves for a long time," Mark's mother confessed, "But... you're sure no one's going to come after us over this?"

"No one knows who Mark's biological parents are," Teresa revealed, "Nor why Mark was given up for adoption. But for the Census Bureau's random find of the adoption agency, even that would've been lost. I just wanted to know how you two saw this about Mark."

Teresa's last statement had the sound of burning curiosity and intense compassion, which Mark wouldn't have expected of a federal agent looking to bust his foster parents.

"It's subtle things," Mark's mom finally said, "I don't know if I can describe them well enough for you to get it. I mean, yeah the way his hair grew even then, but it's other things. Not all of them just his appearance. The way he moved, everything just broadcast to us that he was a werewolf, even if he'd never changed. The surety of his steps, how Mark reacted to sounds, he..." then Mark's mom trailed off and resumed, "There's a certain way Mark looked at people that werewolves, wolves, and... I guess, dogs maybe do. It's an intensity, but I don't think that's quite right, and there's more to it than that.

"There's a kind of playful romp he did," Mark's mom went on, her mind's eye look back on a time he himself couldn't remember, as she described it, "It's something you'd only see in a cub. The human kids didn't do it the same way, but they always reacted positively to it. It's like Mark was giving them job just by being himself."

"You serious?" Mark asked Teresa. "You're not going to tell anyone about this? Gonna make sure my mom and dad don't get arrested?"

"I promise you," Teresa swore, giving Mark her fully face-on sincerity. "There will be no repercussion. The BPA is trying to help everyone better understand everyone else in these trying times."

Mark was satisfied with that, getting no hint of deceit in the Fae's mannerisms. Sure, a Fae could throw a visual illusion to hide that, but there always was scent and the sound of how a person talks. Looking back to his parents, Mark saw they too believed Teresa's promise, though were still guarded out of general reflex.

After a short talk, Teresa let them go back inside to finish their announcement. After everyone else left, the Lowells had a longer conversation with Teresa Sorenson. A talk Mark hoped would be productive for werewolves everywhere.


End file.
